PSmith

It is often passed off as a "mis-calculation" although on each occasion I am pretty sure it was deliberate. I would guess that when you have a large group of 10 plus people who are a bit merry, the restaurants can take advantage of no one counting the bottles. We have been offered a discount when the error has been pointed out, and of course, don't pay the service charge or leave a tip.

Here is a biggie Quite often when we go out for a meal with a group, I drive and therefore don't drink and am often the only sober one in the party. On more occasions than I would like, when the bill has appeared, there are more bottles of wine on the bill than were actually consumed. It seems that some restaurants take advantage that with a big group, where a reasonable amount of alcohol is being drunk, that the odd extra bottle or two won’t get noticed by their tipsy diners. I have had this happen in the UK and in France.

Turkey - Turkish delight, apple tea. Greece - honey, figs oregano, ouzo (aniseed liqueur), olive oil & olives. Italy - Limoncello, Limoncello and more Limoncello Oh and did I mention - make sure you get a bottle of Limoncello when you are in Italy.

Just thought of another - salted chocolate. It really doesn't do it for me.

But even choosing a good restaurant is not a guarantee. Plenty of reports of people being poisoned from eating at top restaurants/hotels in the UK http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/dec/05/fat-duck-restaurant-noroviris-outbreak http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-20318319 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-15887391

Wonder what the reaction would be if people were allowed to eat rare burgers but should they get sick, they will have to pay for their medical care. Would you take the risk with an undercooked burger? Having been taught/brainwashed that burgers and sausages should be cooked through, the thought of eating pink minced meat seems so wrong to me.

It alters the quality of the food and impairs the flavour.

Irradiated food is another.

Exactly, I have only had (mild) food poisoning twice in my life. Once after a take-a-way curry and once after a burger which I didn't noticed if it was fully cooked or not as the restaurant was not very well lit. Minced beef from the butcher, unless it is labelled "steak mince" will contain things other than flesh. It could contain blood vessels, bone and cartilage

Now I don't mind my liver a bit pink, but no way would I serve pink liver to a guest in my home. It is fine for me personally to take the risk, but I don't want the responsibility of playing Russian Roulette with someone else's health. E.coli poisoning is serious stuff. It can actually kill.

Supermarkets in the UK have started selling "Thin Turkish Delight". Turkish delight covered in milk chocolate. One box is one serving too.

Looks like Westminster City Council are stamping down on rare burgers. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/9731808/Why-the-rare-burger-may-soon-become-endangered.html Personally, unless I have minced the beef myself, then I prefer my burgers fully cooked.

Which food can you not stop eating until you have scoffed the whole lot? For me it is Malt Loaf. Not sure if it is available World Wide, but it is a heavy sticky bread made with malt and dried fruit. Normally eaten with butter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malt_loaf

Odd thing - I don't think there are many foods that I don't like. There are foods that I don't like as much as others. I blame my "lived through WWII and rationing" parents. As a child I was made to eat everything on my plate and did so by leaving the nicest things to the end. I guess I was never really allowed to dislike food. If I was pressed, I would say that I dislike tripe. That is probably the only thing I refuse to eat. Having said that, it is a few years since I last ate tripe, so I might try it again if it was offered.

Sous-vide is an odd one. We have had "boil in the bag" fish and meat items for years in the UK. Vacuum packed (and sometimes frozen too) for longevity and then simmered to re-heat/cook. I remember Lamb Shanks being delivered to the pub I worked at in this fashion about 20 years ago. Sous-vide does a similar thing - but in a more anal and precise way. Oddly enough - the best piece of chicken I have ever eaten was not the one cooked using the SV method, but a breast cooked in a paper bag - but then it could be down to the chef knowing a good butcher.

Me too - next they will be giving the GPS co-ordinates of where the cow/sheep/duck etc was born. Or maybe one of those smart phone barcodes that will take you to the farm's website.

It is not wrong if someone wants steak rare or if someone prefers it well done. It is personal choice and I detest the snobbery that dictates that steak must be pink in the middle. Burgers on the other hand, I personally always want fully cooked, but if someone wants a rare one, then I wont be telling them they are wrong. Unless labelled "Steak mince" (mince is our UK word for ground), then it will contain connective tissue, blood vessels and a whole load of other parts of the cow. http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Beef_mince Clearly the BSE problem in the UK in recent years didn't reach all parts of the world. So far only about 200 people have died of vCJD from eating infected meat - at one point the Government were predicting tens of thousands of people may die. Although it was later found that cooking did not kill the infected meat, it has left many in the UK nervous of eating beef mince that has not been well cooked. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopathy Exactly my views - and restaurants should ask if someone wants their burger "well done" rather than just deliver it rare.

No I don't. But I wouldn't pour scorn on anyone who did - it is personal choice - there is no right or wrong. A lot of people in the UK don't like their meat pink - especially after the BSE issues. Unless you are eating ground steak, a lot of burgers in the UK contain offal meat. Only this week we had a chef ordered to remove undercooked meat from his menu http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/nov/13/raymond-blanc-lambs-liver-food-poisoning

Just updated my blog today with some food trends that I find irritating, such as serving food up on a roof tile (aka slate) and the designer "tower burger" What trend is your pet hate?

Personally I will prefer forums to blogs. I like the exchange of views and differing opinions. I know some bloggers will delete any comments made that don't match their own points of view. We have a favourite restaurant and have eat there about four times a year. Once we had a meal that was not up to standard - I later found out the owner/chef was away on a personal emergency. Now what if I was a blogger and decided to give this experience a bad review and publish it into the domain. Anyone can be a blogger - not many have the intelligence to understand not only the complexities of fine dining (me included) and also the ratifications of what a bad review can have. I did find a blog from a couple of ladies from Surrey who wont give a bad public review. How refreshing. Totally off topic - did anyone listen to BBC2 Graham Norton on Saturday morning? He had a listener with boring Foodie friends Had us in hysterics. Link is here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tw2b9 Jump to 51 minutes and 1 hr 22 if you don't want to hear the whole show.

Now this is interesting. Remember the original "Critical Couple" and their spat with Marcus Wareing? Discussed at length here http://forums.egullet.org/topic/135406-top-chef-calls-to-rant-about-negative-comments/ (make sure you read the last page - top sluthing by Paul O'Vendage) Anyway - one would think that they would be on Isherwood's side, having had a similar experience, but no - it appears that they are also promoting CityJohn's blog on their twitter page. Mrs Pot, meet Mr Kettle.

Don't know who City John is, but this seems like good reporting of the facts http://fewerpedantic.wordpress.com/2012/11/11/the-penis-mightier-than-the-sword/

My view exactly. Now I am certainly not a technophile, but I really don't understand twitter. It seems to me a bit vain/stalkerish - and certainly there are a few celebrities that would be far better leaving it alone. I thought it was going to be useful during the bad weather we had one winter, knowing if the road home would be clear. However all that happened was people tweeted rumour about roads being closed, which didn't help one bit.

Plus the chance to do a bit of Food Bragging to their friends. Some diners get quite sycophantic about the celebrity chef dining scene - it is like collecting Michelin stars are the new cigarette cards.

+ 1 - nicely put Mr Man